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Women work without a break for their families, society, and friends all through the year. So, on IWD 2016, LEAD conducted their 3rd annual "Recognizing the Unrecognized", where women in our society who are rarely recognized but are responsible for important work were recognized for their contributions, such as cleaning railway stations, bus stands, picking household trash, selling vegetables etc. LEAD and LEADers believe that, without these women, our communities would come to a standstill.

The youth of today are the leaders of tomorrow. To that purpose, the LEaders Accelerating Development (LEAD) Program of the Deshpande Foundation was born. LEAD develops innovative and entrepreneurial thinking within college students by exposing them to social issues, encouraging them to volunteer their time and effort into the community, and igniting their latent talent to come up with creative solutions. Through this unique platform provided by LEAD, students are gaining the skills and confidence needed to transform their visions into realities. Armed with guidance, exposure, networking opportunities, financial assistance, and encouragement from LEAD, students from throughout 75 colleges and 14 districts are unleashing their leadership potential to go on inspiring and improving those around them.

The 6th Yuva Summit, an international youth conference on leadership, innovation, and entrepreneurship hosted by the Leaders Accelerating Development program, began in Hubballi on 6th February with Mr. Ravindranath Gumaste, Managing Director of Kirloskar Ferrous Industries Ltd., cutting the ceremonial ribbon that let the hundreds of attendees, including students, faculty, entrepreneurs, and honoured guests, into the event grounds.

On 24th January, 107 promising students from across Karnataka and neighbouring states descended upon the VTU campus in Belagavi to mark the kick-off of the 5th annual LEAD Prayana. These students, along with 32 beginning their journey on the same day in Nizamabad, were selected from a pool of almost 500 applicants. LEAD Prayana, which began in 2012 with just 63 students, is an annual leadership journey that takes almost 150 passionate students between the ages of 18-26 throughout India on a 14-day tour across Karnataka...

I am passionate about science, especially physics. My affair with Science started during my childhood and it deepened in my high school when I started participating in Science exhibitions with my models. During Pre University Education, I built the Levitation Train with few of my friends and grabbed prizes at several competitions. “Physics of the Impossible” by Michio Kaku was a book that exposed me further to the vastness of the science and motivated me to start a science group called “Blackbody Science Group (Which Absorbs All Wavelength of Intuitive Minds)”. This group engages in creating interest about science among government and physically disabled school children.

Anamika and her team from Faculty Of Law College, Banaras Hindu University wanted to bring difference in the locality of and the streets of Nariya Lanka colony as they were dirty. LEaders visited more than 40 household people and created awareness about cleanliness and also requested them to maintain the colony clean but the group did not get proper response from the people. The team challenged to take up initiative to clean the area which is near to their hostel and accomplished it in a day.

Anamika with her team planned and collected Rs.1,300/- from the hostel
girls and also few supported people of the colony to purchase brooms and
dustbins to clean the colony. kids and few youngsters of the area
joined hands with them in taking up the initiative.

LEaders were questioned about their responsibility of studies and asked
them to concentrate on it, but they took it as a challenge and with the
encouragement and motivation from the other locality people they brought
a change in the area. Children and youngsters decided to maintain the cleanliness in the locality. LEader Anamika and her team completed the initiative under the guidance of Mr. Ajay Suman Shukla in one day and are very happy with their efforts, results and appreciations that they got from the people by completing the challenges taken by them. LEaders want to take up new initiatives and bring in impactful change and be the reason for the difference in the society.